metadata
title: CLI Symbols Glossary
description: >-
What every symbol in the Hermes terminal UI means โ transcript markers,
status-bar badges, overlay glyphs, and approval prompts.
CLI Symbols Glossary
The Hermes terminal interfaces speak a compact visual language: dots, chevrons, braille spinners, and status glyphs. This page is the decoder ring. It covers the TUI (where most of these render) and notes the pieces shared with the Classic CLI.
:::note Skins can restyle some of these
Glyphs marked themeable below are brand defaults โ a skin can override them (for example tool_prefix and the prompt symbol). Everything else is fixed in the renderer.
:::
Transcript symbols
What you see in the conversation flow while the agent works.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โฏ |
Input prompt โ where you type. Themeable (skins set their own prompt symbol). |
โ |
A tool call. The bullet precedes the tool name and its arguments. |
โ |
Tool-activity rail shown with tool lines. Themeable (tool_prefix). |
โ / โ |
Tool result: succeeded / failed. Appended to the end of a completed tool line. |
โธ / โพ |
Collapsed / expanded section chevron (thinking, tools, subagents, banner sections). Click to toggle. |
โ |
Streaming cursor โ blinks while the model is still emitting text. |
โ โโ โโ |
Tree rails โ connect a parent (a delegation, a journey) to its child entries; โโ marks the last child. |
โ |
Display-only timeline event (session notices rendered inline, not user messages). |
โ |
An injected reference block, e.g. โ Reference 1/2 โ <label>. |
โณ |
The sticky prompt โ echoes the user message the agent is currently working on. |
โ / โ / โข |
Markdown task-list items (open / done) and plain list bullets. |
โถ |
Collapsed <details> summary inside rendered markdown. |
Status-bar symbols
The single line at the bottom of the TUI. Segments appear only when relevant and drop off first on narrow terminals.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โ โ โ นโฆ (braille patterns) |
Busy spinner. Thinking and tool phases use different braille animation sets. |
โค ๐ ๐ค โจ ๐ต ๐ฎ |
Frames of the emoji busy-indicator style (/indicator emoji). The default style rotates kaomoji faces instead. |
| / - \ |
Frames of the ascii busy-indicator style. |
โฑ |
Per-prompt elapsed time while the turn runs, e.g. โฑ 12s/3m 45s (turn time / session time). |
โฒ |
The same timer, frozen after the turn completes. |
cmp N |
The session has been auto-compressed N times. |
โถ N |
N /bg tasks currently running. |
โ YOLO |
YOLO mode is on (auto-approval). Also shown in the startup banner. |
โ N |
N subagents currently active. |
โฉ resumes when subagent finishes |
Reassurance shown while you are idle but delegated work is still in flight โ the result returns on its own. |
โ REC |
Voice mode is recording. |
โ STT |
Voice recording stopped; speech-to-text is transcribing. |
โ focus |
Focus view is on (reduced output). Pinned so it never drops off a narrow terminal. |
โฅ |
Affection flash โ Hermes noticed you being nice to it. |
โก / ๐ |
Battery indicator (opt-in): plugged in / on battery, with percentage. |
N bg |
N background terminal processes tracked in this session. |
N live sessions |
Open TUI sessions in this process โ click to open the session switcher. |
Notices
Short-lived status-bar notices carry their own leading glyph, set by severity:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โ |
Success notice. |
โข |
Informational notice. |
โ |
Warning (also used for credit warnings). |
โ |
Error notice. |
Approval and confirmation prompts
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โ approval required |
A tool wants to run something that needs your explicit yes (bordered panel with the command preview). |
โ / ? |
Confirmation dialog title: dangerous action / ordinary question. |
๐ |
Sudo password prompt (input is masked). |
๐ |
Credential/secret input prompt (input is masked). |
Subagents overlay (/agents)
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โ |
Subagent running. |
โ |
Queued. |
โ |
Completed. |
โ |
Interrupted. |
โ |
Failed. |
โ |
Timed out. |
โ |
Errored. |
โกN |
N currently-active agents in a rollup row. |
โโโโโ
โโโ |
Activity sparkline โ recent event volume per branch. |
Session switcher (Ctrl+X)
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โ |
Session idle. |
โฆ |
Starting. |
? |
Waiting for input. |
โถ |
Working. |
โ draft |
The composer in that session holds an unsent draft. |
Pickers and hubs
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โธ |
Current selection row (model picker and friends). |
* |
The currently-active model / provider. |
โ / โ |
Provider authenticated / not authenticated (model picker); plugin state fallback (plugins hub). |
โ / โ |
Plugin enabled / disabled (plugins hub). |
โ N more / โ N more |
More rows above/below the visible window of a list. |
โ |
Scrollbar thumb on scrollable overlays. |
Goals
Goal lifecycle notices (from goals) lead with their state:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
โ |
Goal complete. |
โป |
Goal continuing โ another iteration was scheduled. |
โธ |
Goal paused. |
See also
- TUI โ status line, details modes, busy-indicator styles
- Classic CLI โ shared keybindings and slash commands
- Skins & Themes โ which glyphs and colors you can customize